The present invention relates to improvements and apparatus for slicing food products and arranging them in a stacked form of controlled weight; apparatus of this type is disclosed and commonly assigned U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,903,032, granted Sept. 9, 1959, 3,099,304, granted July 30, 1963, 3,200,864, granted Aug. 18, 1965, 3,204,676, granted Sept. 7, 1965, 3,835,742, granted Sept. 17, 1974, 3,846,957, granted Nov. 12, 1974, 3,846,958, granted Nov. 12, 1974, 3,880,035, granted Apr. 29, 1975, 3,905,259, granted Sept. 16, 1975, 3,906,823, granted Sept. 23, 1975, 3,910,141, granted Oct. 7, 1975, 3,933,066, granted Jan. 20, 1976, 4,015,494, granted Apr. 5, 1977, and U.S. Letters patent application Ser. No. 849,528 filed Nov. 7, 1977 abandoned in favor of continuation-in-part application Ser. No. 92,195 filed Nov. 6, 1979 commonly assigned herein.
While apparatus of the type disclosed in these patents have proven to be satisfactory, it is desirable to upgrade their operation of such systems with the maximum amount of slicing of products and integrity of stack being realized. In addition, it is also desirable to maintain an effective control over the product being sliced throughout the slicing cycle thereby preventing the throw-off or splattering of product resulting in disruption of weighing process and inconsistency in stack weight.
Usually, in the conventional machines, the approach is to have a tractor metering feed belt throughout the entire length of the channel bed, with various hold-down devices incorporated to effectively control the loaf against pull by the blade and rotation as it is being sliced. Usually included therewith is a gripper assembly which utilizes vacuum suction and grips the tail end as a means of removing the butt end before it is splattered by the knife. Also the use of tractor metering feed is expensive, and in addition does not provide the most effective control of the slice, allowing splattering of the loaf which interfers with the weighing of the product, as aforementioned. This necessitates the cleaning of the machine on a relatively frequent basis thereby inhibiting the effective operation of a continuous machine.
In such conventional systems, the usual time per slicing of a loaf is approximately 28 to 30 seconds, with a 10 second period necessary for retracting the gripper so that the next succeeding loaf could pass on to be fed into the slicing blade. The retraction time of the conventional systems is approximately 1/3 of the cutting time, and efficiency is lost due to idleness of the machine during this period.
In addition, incorporation of the profile compensation control system as disclosed in the aforementioned application, in the present systems, while effective, may be improved through the use of a means of determining in the exact location of the tail end of the loaf being sliced, which presently is somewhat estimated for so that accuracy in determining when the rear count should begin is at a somewhat disadvantage.